After you’ve prepared your website for the increased traffic flow that comes with any affiliate program, your next step is to find new affiliate partners. First of all, you need to find the right kind of affiliates that are best suited for the products and services your website offers. Second, you must have a persuasive argument for your prospects to join. To hook new partners, you need to prepare the bait, which is a good selling point that will explain why they should bother promoting your site. Here are some ways to attract new recruits for your affiliate program:
1. Understand the different types of affiliates
Before you sign up new affiliates, it’s important to understand the difference between the different types of potential candidates you’ll come across. You can see the first type on websites that are full of useful and relevant content or perhaps a blog that caters to a loyal audience. Merchants who have one or more of these types of affiliates on their team will find that they have a constant influx of sales. Website and blog affiliates are usually easy to locate and recruit.
The second type of affiliate is sometimes called a “super affiliate” because they have a large email list to offer or enjoy a large amount of website traffic. The increase in traffic and sales will be instant when you connect with a ‘super affiliate’. Since this type of affiliate is highly sought after, it is difficult to enroll this person. The third type of affiliate consists of pay-per-click experts and search engine optimization (SEO) wizards. You can expect to earn a sales commission when you partner with this type of affiliate. If they see that they will be able to benefit from your site, they will usually approach you.
The fourth type of affiliate includes a variety of services including sites that offer incentives, coupons, and free samples or comparison shopping. The potential to attract traffic effectively is calculated by paying per sale.
Find potential affiliates
One of the easiest methods of locating potential affiliates is to browse through some of the partners on related or competitor sites. If you find an affiliate that is promoting a website that offers the same types of products or services that you offer, then it is very likely that they will find interest in what you offer. To find affiliates from competitor websites, just use Google or a link popularity software.
Some merchants have also found affiliates by entering popular keywords into search engines that are related to their niche. If you’re selling gourmet dog biscuits, then a good keyword search might include words like ‘pet supplies’, ‘pet store’ or ‘dog sitting’. This will remove high ranking sites. The next thing you need to do is make a list of potential affiliates and then contact them.
3) Locate the contact details of the affiliate
With your affiliate list in hand, contact information becomes the key to communicating your desire to partner. The best place to look is on their website under “Contact Us” or “About Us.” The “WhoIs” directory also provides contact information for websites.